Prime moveb



o E. J. STODDARD.

PRIME MOVER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.28, I916.

Patented June 17, 1919.

INVENTOR WWW 25 I sion and other similar purposes.

ELLIOTT msronnann, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

PRIME MOVER.

Lsoaees.

To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, ELLIOTT J. STODDARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Prime" Movers, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as Wlll enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make, and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates-to prime movers and the object of my improvements ]S to provide as'trong and compact heat engine with eX- terior heating. 1

In recent yearsjthe steam engine has been made so powerful and compact that it could beused for'propelling a vehicle and the in .ternal combustion englne has also been made 3 so powerfuland compact that it was serviceable for this purpose. The object of my improvements is to make the hot'air, or. so- 7 called caloric, engine sufliciently powerful and compact to be used for vehicle propul- I secure this object in the apparatus shown and illustrated inithe accompanyingdrawing and by the method hereinafter described,

itbeing understood that the invention may be embodied in various forms of apparatus and that the one shown is for convenience of illustrating only. i

In the figure a 'isthe working cylinder having an intake valve in and discharge valve 73, b is the piston reciprocating in thecylinder (1. c is a piston rod and I have shown this rod 'connected by a Scotch yoke through a crank 39 and" fly wheel 0 in the usual way. fisa pum cylinder and g is the piston reciprocating t erein, e is a piston rod extending from the piston g and connected to the Scotch yoke 03 axially vin line Y with the piston rod 0. j is the intake valve to the cylinder f and k is the discharge valve. i

g is a chamber or jacketed space surrounding thejcylinder a, and r is a covering offi-i's placed in the chambers Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1?, i919.

Application filed February 28, 1916. Serial No. 80,802.

m is an air heating apparatus consisting in this instance of a coil of pipe inclosed in .a hood to secure a better application of heat 8 1s a caslng divided into two compartments 8? and s by a flexible diaphragm s 8 is a needle valve connected at the center of the diaphragm s and adapted to regulate the openings through the orifice u.

o is a pipe joining the chamber 9 with the chamber 8 and t is a supply pipe for inflammable material to be supplied for, the maintenance of the. flame above the orifice u.

The pipe 25 communicates with the cham ber 8 of the casing s.

The heating coils m communicate with the intake valve h to the cylinder (1 through a pipe h n is a cooler consisting in this case of a coil of pipesinclosed in a casing through which casing cooling material is passed, such I as water.

i is a pipe forming a conduit connecting the port of the discharge valve 71 with the cooling coil n. 7' is a pipe connecting the co l n with the intake valve to the cylinder f. k is a pipe connecting the port of the discharge valve is with the heating coil m.

T have indicated the'valves h and z, and y and k as mechanically operated which I belive to bethe preferred forms' I have not shown in detail the valve operating mechanism.

a: is a spring below the diaphragm s and y is a lever upon which the lower end of the spring a: bears. a is a set screw by which the lever y may be adjusted and therefore the tension of the spring a: may be regulated.

The operation of the above described de viceis as follows:

A material adapted to be expanded and contracted in proportion to its temperature heat insulating material over the wall of the m'unicating pipe 0, and tie tension of the jacket g.

spring a: is regulated so thatwhen the cylinand s and comder a and consequently the material in the jacket 9 is heated to the maximum at which it may be safely operated, that is to say, usually the maximum temperature at which an efficient lubrication of the cylinder a may be maintained, the diaphragm s will be forced upward and the supply of fuel to the orifice u will be stopped or suitably checked. Then air at a high pressure, say about five hundred pounds per square inch, is forced into the receptacle m and heated therein and is admitted in the usual way through the valve It to actuate the piston d and is then discharged into the cooler n and after its temperature 'has fallen it is taken into the pump 8 through the intake valve j and again compressed and forced back into the receptacle m through the valve In and pipe 70 cylinder at and forces the piston 6 down-.

ward for about half its stroke, this air is then shut off and expanded until its pressure drops to say two hundred and fifty pounds. It is then expelled to the cooler and its temperature reduced to its lower limit and it is then taken into the compressor and re-compressed and transferred to the receptacle m.

It will be observed that this engine may be runrapidly as the air may be gradually heated as it passes through the receptacle m.

Of course, the precise intervals of admission and expansion and discharge are not essential to the working cylinder, as the high I temperatured and highly compressed air might be admitted for the entire stroke or I any portion thereof.

The receptacles m and a should be quite large so that the pressures in them shall not vary materially in the operation of the engine and the air will remain in them for a sufficient interval to be fully heated and cooled.

I have not tried to illustrate definitely the relative sizes of the working and compression'cylinder nor the intervals of admission and expansion in the respective cylinders', as these would vary for different requirements and according tothe judgment of designers and the approximate proportions are matters of elementary engineering calculations.

With the temperatures assumed and an expansion of two to one in pressure Ihave calculated the compression cylinderv to have a volume of about six-tenths to that of the workin cylinder. If the air is admitted to the wor ing cylinder-throughout the entire stroke the volume of the compression cylinder would be about half that of the working.

cylinder.

heat is adapted to a fluctuating load on the engine. That is to say, a load which is in its nature variable from moment to moment such as is met with in automobile practice.

What I claim is:

1. In a caloric engine, a closed system, air under compression in saidsystem, a working cylinder and a compression cylinder in said system, and automatically regulated means for raising the temperature of the air as it passes from the compression cylinder to the working cylinder so that it s all not have risen beyond a predetermined temperature when it passes to the working cylinder.

2. In .a caloric engine, a closed system, air under compression in said system, a working cylinder and a compression cylinder in sand system, and means for gradually heating and cooling the air passing through said system, and means for limiting the working cylinder to a predetermined temperature.

3. In a caloric engine, a closed system, air' under compression in said system, a working cylinder and a compression cylinder in said system, and means for gradually heating and cooling the air passing through said system; and means for automatically limiting the working cylinder to a predetermined temperature.

4. In a caloric engine, a closed system, a working cylinder, means for heating and cooling the air passing through said system, a compression cylinder, and means for limiting said working cylinder to a predetermined temperature.

5. In a caloric engine, a closed system, means for heating and cooling the air in said. system, material adapted to be expanded by 'an increase in temperature surrounding the working cylinder, and a heating apparatus, and means'connecting said material with said heating apparatus to regulate the degree towhich the air supplied to the cylinder is heated.

6. In a caloric engine, a closed system, a working cylinder, means for heating and cooling the air passing through said system, a compression cylinder, and an automatic means controlled by the temperature of the air adjacent to the working cylinder for controlling the temperature of such air.

1,306,866 a at 7. In a caloric engine, a-closed system, air under compression in said system, a working cylinder and a compression cylinder in sald system, and automatically regulated means for raising the temperature of the air as it'passes from the compression cylinder to the Working cylinder so that it shall not have risen beyond a predetermined temperature when it passes to the Working cylinder, and means for adjusting said automatically regulated means.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specifi- ELLIOTT J. STODDARD.

' cation. 

